The premium investors demand to own two-year French debt over similarly maturing German bonds climbed to its highest level since the 2013 Taper Tantrum on Monday, as the country’s election looms, the Financial Times reported. The difference between yields on two-year French and German sovereign bonds climbed to 25 basis points on Monday, up from 18.5 bps on Friday and a low of less than 1 bp touched after the US election last November. Yields on the French note climbed 5 bps on Monday, compared to a 2 bp drop in German ones.

Europeans are more confident about their economy than they’ve been in nearly six years, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the markets, Bloomberg News reported. Investors dumped bonds and stocks across the region on Monday, spurred by a confluence of risks that echoed the euro-zone debt crisis. French and Italian election campaigns stoked concerns over the rise of anti-euro political powers, while inflation in Germany signaled European Central Bank stimulus may not last much longer. Meantime, Greece, the catalyst for the original crisis, reached another crossroads with its creditors.

The European Union should create a bloc-wide bad bank to help tackle the 1.2 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) of soured loans on lenders’ books, policy makers said. Andrea Enria, chairman of the European Banking Authority, proposed setting up a common asset management company to take over and manage the sell-off of the loans, Bloomberg News reported. The bad bank would bridge the gap between the “real economic value” of banks’ bad loans and the price that investors are willing to pay.

Greece will only receive more loans from the euro zone if the International Monetary Fund joins its latest aid programme, the head of the bloc's bailout fund said on Monday, spelling out a condition thus far disregarded by Athens's creditors, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Greece needs a new tranche of financial aid under its 86 billion euro bailout by the third quarter of the year or it faces the risk of defaulting on its debts.

The euro zone economy has kicked off the year robustly, data from the Baltic to the Mediterranean showed on Monday, evidence for the European Central Bank that its massive cash stimulus is working but also posing questions about what comes next. There are risks ahead - some economic, some political - but for now the 19 member states of the euro zone are doing better than many expected, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Greece’s public debt and financing needs will prove “explosive” in decades to come unless Europe overhauls its bailout program to ease the load, the International Monetary Fund says in a draft report as the country seeks a fresh loan payout, Bloomberg News reported. In a baseline scenario, Greece’s government debt will reach 275 percent of its gross domestic product by 2060, at which time its gross financing needs will represent 62 percent of GDP, the IMF says in the report obtained by Bloomberg. The government estimates public debt around 180 percent of GDP at present.

Two historic Greek newspapers, including the country’s best-selling daily, will cease publication, the debt-ridden Lambrakis Press Group announced on Saturday. “To Vima weekly and Ta Nea daily are forced to cease their publication within days due to financial reasons,” the company said in a statement, The Guardian reported. Lambrakis Press Group (DOL) “is lacking any available resources and as a result it can’t support the printing of its newspapers and, of course, can’t ensure the unhampered operation of the other media outlets it owns,” it added.

The number of people declared insolvent in England and Wales rose last year for the first time since 2010, after hitting a post-financial crisis low in 2015, official figures showed on Friday, raising concern about households' financial health. Britain's economy was the fastest-growing major advanced economy last year, despite initial fears that June's Brexit vote would lead to an immediate downturn. But it has become increasingly reliant on rising consumer borrowing.

Greece hopes stronger than expected public accounts in 2016 will convince its lenders to sign off on a bailout review without demanding more austerity, government officials said on Thursday, the International New York Times reported. After meeting his euro zone counterparts in Brussels, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said that last year's primary surplus - which excludes debt servicing costs - reached 2 percent of gross domestic product, beating a target of 0.5 percent of GDP set in its bailout plan.

A court in the Netherlands on Thursday postponed until Feb. 2 a decision on whether to enforce bankruptcy proceedings against two subsidiaries of phone carrier Oi SA, which is under creditor protection in Brazil, said two sources briefed on the matter who were not authorized to discuss it publicly, Reuters reported. The ruling was expected to be made on Thursday, according to a statement from Oi on Jan. 12. One of the sources said the reasons for the delay were unclear. The second source declined to elaborate.